Prison officers will be exposed to training from international corrections officials to help them better address challenges at Her Majesty's Prisons (HMP). Head of the U.S. Embassy's Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Department David Jea told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that local officials will receive training this fall. Jea spoke during a one-day training course at HMP for prison officers on the use of the new contraband detection equipment which the United States Embassy donated to the prison last week.

"In the fall we have professionals coming from the Rhode Island Department of Corrections through a partnership that we have with the State Department and the Rhode Island Department to do a week-long, much more in-depth program that meets the needs of the corrections facility," Jea said. "It's going to be a broad covering of practices, policies, safety, emergency response, a whole list of different responsibilities."

Jea said the goal is to meet "high priority" needs of the country's law enforcement officers. "This partnership is extremely valuable. We started planning and laying out the program about a year ago," he said. Yesterday's one-day training course was a part of that program. Twelve officers received training.

The contraband detection equipment, valued at $50,000, includes a three zoned body scanner, and a drug screening kit used to detect cocaine and marijuana. The U.S. Embassy also donated two specialized signal detectors, which can detect illicit listening devices, cell phones and other electronic devices.

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